“According to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5–7).

The moving song, “No Blood, No Altar Now,” delineates the fact that Christ Jesus has died the perfect sacrifice abundantly providing all that is necessary for God to justly wash our sins away. As our text reveals, His grace justified, or declared us righteous, making us heirs of His kingdom, and granting to us the certain hope of everlasting life. The fourth verse explains:

We thank thee for the hope, So glad, and sure, and clear
It holds the drooping spirit up Till the bright dawn appear
Fair hope! with what a sunshine does it cheer
Our roughest path on earth, our dreariest desert here.

Today’s common usage of the word “hope” limits it to the state of “wish” or “expect.” Not so for the Greek word elpis, meaning a confident expectation; a future certainty. Paul writes of the “hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; . . . That blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us” (Titus 1:2; 2:13,14).

This hope, far more than a view of a certain future, provides stability and confidence in these present unsteady days. Since, as we have seen, He Himself has promised us this hope, and since it is “impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Hebrews 6:18,19). Jesus has died, our sins are forgiven, and our hope is sure! JDM